§ 42. WYULIF AND THE SCRIPTUKES. 345
ities of his time with withholding the Word of God from the laity, and denying it to them in the language the people could understand. And the fact remains that, from his day until the reign of Elizabeth, Catholic England did not produce any translations of the Bible, and the English Reformers were of the opinion that the Catholic hierarchy was irrevocably set against English versions. Tyndale had to flee from England to translate his New Testament, and all the copies of the first edition that could be collected were burnt on English soil. And though it is alleged that Tyndale's New Testament was burnt because it was an " unauthorized " translation, it still remains true thatj;he hierarchy made no attempt to give the Bible to England until long after the Protestant Reformation had begun and Protestantism was well established.
The co^ies_ofJWxcM'-&Jand— PuTi/ifiyls versions seem^jtojiave been circulated in considerable numbers in Ejiglandj and were in thejpossession of low and. higli*. The Lollards cherished them. A splendid copy was given to the Carthusians of London by Henry VL, and another copy was in the possession of Henry VH. Sir Thomas More states distinctly that there was found in the possession of John Hunne, who was afterwards burnt, a Bible " written after Wyclif's copy and by him translated into our tongue." ^ While for a century and a half these volumes helped to keep alive the spirit of Wyclif in England, it is impossible to say how far Wyclif's version influenced the Protestant Reformers. In fact, it is unknown whether they used it at all. Some of its words, such as mote and beam and strait gate, which are found in the version of the 16th century, seem to indicate, to say the least, that these terms had become common property through the medium of Wyclif's version. ^ The priceless heirloom which English-speaking peoples possess in the English version and in an open Bible free to all who will read, learned and unlearned, lay and cleric, will continue to be associated with the Reformer of the 14th century. As has been said by one of the ablest of recent Wyclif students, Buddensieg, the call to honor the Scriptures as the Word of God and
1 More's Works, p. 240, quoted by Gairdner, I. 112.
2 See Forshall and Madden, p. xxxii, and Eadie, pp. 90-94.
346 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1294-1517.
to study and diligently obey them, runs through Wyclif's writings like a scarlet thread. ^ Without knowing it, he departed diametrically from Augustine when he declared that the Scriptures do not depend for their authority upon the judgment of the Church, but upon Christ.
/ In looking over the career and opinions of John Wyclif, it becomes evident that jii^linost every doctrinal particular did
ythis man andcipatejtlie Reforniers. The more his utterances are studied, the stronger becomes this conviction. He exalted preaching ;^ie insisted upon th& eif euhtrtkm-ef ^ie^criptuxt;^ among the laity ; he demanded purity and fidelity of the clergy ; he denied infallibility to the4)aj2aLutteran(;ys, and went so far as to declare Jtliat^ie pi»p?mj-T^r-rrf°r^-<"tno>4i-in1 tn the bfiiig ^ the Church. He defined the Church as the congregation of the elect ; he showed the unscriptural and unreasonable chai'acter of the doctrine of transubstantiatioi^ ; he pronounced priestly absolution a declarative_act^ He dissented from the common notion about pilgrimages ; he justified marriage on
1 biblical grounds as honorable among all men ; he appealed for liberty for the monk to renounce his vow, and to betake him-
Iself to some useful work.
^ Thpi dontrinpi of jnsf ifinnfi'f^i^ by faith Wy.£di4-d4d- ntjL slate. However, he constantly uses such expressions as, that to believe in Christ is life. The doctrine of merit is denied., and Christ's mediation is made all-sufficient. He approached close to the Reformers when he pronounced " faith the supreme theology," — Jides est summa theologia, — and that only by the study of the Scriptures is it possible to become a Christian. ^ Behind all Wyclif's pther teaching is his devotion to Christ and his appeal tojnen to follow Him nnd obey His layv. It is
1 Buddensieg, Introd. to De ver., pp. xxxii, xxxviii.
2 See De ver. scr., I. 209, 212, 214, 2(;0, II. 234, lie made a distinction between the material and formal principles when he spoke of the words of Christ as something materiale, and the inner meaning as something /orwaZf'. Buddensieg, p. xlv, says Wyclif had a dawning presentiment of justifying faith. According to Poole, he stated the doctrine in other terms in his treatment of lordship. Rashdall, Diet. Xntl. Biog., LXIII. 221, says that, apart from the doctrine of justification by faith, there is little in the teachings of the 10th cent, which Wyclif did not anticipate.